Jerry Brown has $17 million banked for re-election

Gov. Jerry Brown, who hasn't actually said that he's running for re-election, had about $17 million to do it banked at this year's start, while one of his Republican challengers had only a fraction of a percent as much.

Brown raised almost $7.1 million while spending only about $176,000 in the second half of 2013. His campaign finished the year with $16.96 million cash on hand and no debts.

Tim Donnelly, a conservative Republican Assemblyman from Twin Peaks near Los Angeles, raised about $291,000 and spent about $286,000 during the same period, leaving him with about $54,000 in cash and almost $36,000 in debts as of Dec. 31.

Another Republican, former assistant Treasury secretary and asset manager Neel Kashkari of Laguna Beach, entered the race in January, and so didn't file a report Friday. A third, former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, quit the race.

Meanwhile, freshman East Bay congressman Eric Swalwell kept outraising fellow Democrat and state Sen. Ellen Corbett as she seeks to unseat him, while several open state legislative seats in the Bay Area saw robust fundraising contests.

Brown in recent months raked in campaign cash from companies, trade groups and deep-pocketed individuals. The Democratic incumbent received sizable donations from a slew of labor groups, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the District Council of Ironworkers and the California Nurses Association, though the state's powerful teacher's union -- a big supporter in Brown's last election -- has not given yet.

Advertisement

Brown got maximum contributions of $27,200 each from Hollywood elite like Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg, tech giants like Facebook and Sony, and food and beverage powerhouses like Anheuser-Busch and Safeway. Actress Barbra Streisand, actor Robert Downey Jr. and former Gov. Gray Davis each contributed $5,000. And Brown also got checks from some of the biggest names in business and on Wall Street, including $27,200 each from Wal-Mart, Exxon, Philip Morris and Bank of America.

Donnelly got only a single contribution of $27,200; it came from investor Rick Massie in mid-December. The rest of Donnelly's contributions last year came from more than 1,000 groups and individuals, most of whom gave less than $5,000 each. Some gave as little as $10 to support the tea party favorite's bid, and more than 100 donors each gave him the patriotic sum of $17.76.

In the developing race for state controller, Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, raised about $2 million and spent about $107,000 from July through December, finishing the year with $1.89 million cash and no debts. His Democratic challenger, Board of Equalization member Betty Yee of Alameda, raised $195,000 and spent $202,000, leaving her with $502,000 cash and owing $66,000. Republican candidate David Evans had not filed a report by early Friday evening.

Among other statewide races, Attorney General Kamala Harris so far has only a largely unknown Democrat challenging her re-election, but that didn't stop her from raking in more than $750,000 in the year's second half; her bankroll stood at about $3.1 million by Dec. 31. Similarly, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom raised about $511,000 from July through December, finishing the year with about $1.7 million in ready cash.

In the 15th Congressional District, freshman Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Pleasanton, raised about $275,000 in 2013's final quarter while spending $63,000; his campaign had $823,000 cash and $3,600 in debts at year's end. His challenger, state Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, raised almost $91,000 -- by far her best quarter to date -- while spending almost $26,000. She had $209,000 as of Dec. 31 with no debts.

Corbett is term-limited out of the 10th State Senate District. Seeking to succeed her, former Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi of Hayward -- convicted of shoplifting two years ago and months later defeated in an Alameda County supervisorial race -- finished the year with $734,000 cash and no outstanding debts. Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, finished the year with about $125,000 in the bank and owing $32,000; Democrat Roman Reed, a Fremont planning commissioner and spinal-cord research advocate, finished the year with $49,234 after lending his campaign $40,000; and Republican Peter Kuo, an insurance agent from Santa Clara, had $24,000 banked, including a $5,000 loan from his own pocket.

Healthcare providers and insurance companies raised $31.9 million by 2013's end to oppose an initiative -- led by Danville's Bob Pack, who lost his two children to a drugged driver in 2003 -- that would raise medical malpractice award limits; supporters had less than half a million banked.